Lumsdon hopes to regain the title of oldest woman to make the swim this summer, but rival Colleen Shields, five years older, won’t be far behind.

At age 56, Kim Lumsdon is aiming to become the oldest female swimmer to cross Lake Ontario. She's already done the swim twice - at age 19 and in 1994. But this one, scheduled for July, couldl take her into the record books.

How many 56-year-old Toronto women are anxious to dive into the famously chilly, deep waters of Lake Ontario and swim across?

There’s only one in the lineup, already signed up with Solo Swims of Ontario, a non-profit that monitors and provides strict guidelines for open-water solo swims in provincial waters.

That would be Kim Lumsdon, who is aiming, starting July 26, to be the oldest woman — for the second time — to make the crossing. It’s a gruelling minimum 51-kilometre (wind and current can make it longer) swim from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Marilyn Bell Park, west of Exhibition Place, named after the legendary young swimmer who swam the same route at age 16. (The oldest swimmer to conquer Lake Ontario was American Bill Sadlo who swam across in 1957 at age 57).

On Aug. 5-6, 2006, at the age of 49, Lumsdon became the oldest woman at the time to swim across the lake, doing the trip in 26 hours and 38 minutes — only to have the title taken away about a week later by another long-distance swimmer, 54-year-old Colleen Shields, who took just 17 hours and 56 minutes. Shields had previously made the swim at 38.

But now, Lumsdon hopes to break Shields’ still-standing record in her third crossing of Lake Ontario. At age 19, Lumsdon crossed in 21 hours, 27 minutes, coached by her father, Cliff Lumsdon, a world champion long-distance swimmer himself and winner of the Lou Marsh Trophy for outstanding Canadian athlete of the year in 1949.

She and Shields have a friendly rivalry.

“She has told me by email that I would have the record this year and she would have it next year,’’ says Lumsdon, laughing during an interview at an Etobicoke coffee shop, and adding she doesn’t know if Shields is joking or not.

It turns out Shields is serious about going again. She told the Star she is planning another swim across the lake (she has been unsuccessful in several tries since 2006, the most recent in September 2012) but she’s not sure when.

Did anyone think age dimmed the competitive spirit? Not so.

“Yes, I want the record!’’ says Lumsdon. “I’m not fast, I’m not a speedster. But I do have the endurance and I’m good in waves and I’m good in cold water. Cold water’s not the greatest to be in, but it’s about how strong your mind is, as well as your body. So if your mind is bright and you’re strong ... and I do have my father’s genes.’’

At this point in the conversation, Lee Shimano, one of Lumsdon’s coaches, a friend of more than 25 years who’s been with her on previous swims, interjects.

“She gets a little impatient towards the end. She wants to get it done.’’

This time around, Lumson has new knees: titanium. “I want to see how well they do in the water,’’ she says of the knee replacements. She’d have done the swim last year but was still recovering from surgery on one knee.

Lumsdon was born with twisted legs and had pins put in when she was 12 because her knees would dislocate.

“I was knock-kneed,’’ she says. Swimming was the only sport she could do and it turned out she loved it, competing in age group competitions for years as a child, turning pro at age 16.

She competed on the circuit of professional swims, taking second or third place prizes each year from 1972 to 1976. Lumsdon has also competed in Masters swim competitions for several years and has placed regularly in the Ontario Top 10 for the 800 metres and 1,500-metre free. She’ll be competing at the 2014 FINA World Swimming Masters championships in Montreal.

For this Lake Ontario swim, she’s also trying to raise money, and has a link on her website for the Ontario Cancer Insitute, a cause that’s close to her and many she knows. Lumsdon currently coaches some swimmers living with cancer who work out in the pool, even through periods when they’re getting chemotherapy and radiation.

“Swimming lends itself to recovery,’’ she says.

And as an older person, it also helps her stay fit. Her dad, whom she fondly refers to as “my father, my friend, my coach’’ stopped swimming at age 46. He saw his weight swell to 300 pounds, became diabetic and had heart problems. He died at age 60 in 1991.

At 269 pounds spread over a 5-foot-6 frame, Lumsdon says she’s about 10 to 15 pounds heavier than the last time she swam across the lake, part of that a carryover from post-surgery inactivity. But her training regimen is tougher now than in 2006. And with doing weights four days a week, swimming five times a week at the University of Toronto pool and outdoor swims in small lakes starting in May, some of those pounds will probably come off, says Lumsdon.

“But with the cold water, I don’t want to be a skinny, skinny Minnie,’’ she says, joking: “You can write that I probably won’t feel the water because I’m so hot inside. I have to have all the windows open at home,’’ she said, referring to some of the effects of being pre-menopausal.

The Solo Swims of Ontario association requires that in the 12 to 24 hours before a crossing, a swimmer’s crew must confirm certain minimum conditions. They include: a water temperature of at least 10C, wind not more than 19 km/h, and waves not more than one metre, trough-to-crest.

Lumsdon’s 29-year-old daughter, Jana Lumsdon Jarnecic, who lives in Australia, will be here for her mother’s swim and continuing the Lumsdon tradition of “pacing,’’ or swimming near the person crossing the lake for periods of time. Swimmers find it encouraging and it helps them keep up a certain pace.

Lumsdon’s late mother, Joan, “paced Marilyn Bell that last 10 miles of her swim. She’s the one who jumped in with her bra and underwear on,’’ said Lumsdon. Her mom didn’t have a bathing suit with her at the time, but wanted to lend support to her friend Bell, who would later call her “one of my life’s most precious treasures’’ in a letter read at Joan Lumsdon’s memorial service in 2000.

On this swim, Lumsdon feels her age and lengthy swim and coaching experience will stand her in good stead.

“I think age is probably a good factor for me,’’ she says. “I know what to expect ... my big thing is just getting across. If it takes me 30, 40 hours ...

They both laugh and Lumsdon continues: “I don’t care how long it takes me, it’s not a race. I just have the urge to go in there and swim. It would be nice to have the record — it’s a bonus.’’

Along with her support crew, Lumsdon will be accompanied by a film crew that’s doing a documentary on her life.

“They’ve been following me for two years,’’ she says. As a single mother of three now-grown children, formerly married to an alcoholic, life hasn’t been easy. “But it’s made me really strong ... I can get through a lot because I’ve been through a lot.’’

Young and speedy

Alex Buehlow of Bright, Ont., a small town about halfway between Kitchener and Woodstock, will be competing to get into the Lake Ontario swim record books this summer at the opposite end of the age scale — as the youngest male swimmer to go the distance, and also the fastest.

The 18-year-old, who is autistic, will be entering the water Aug. 12, hoping to beat the current record for youngest male swimmer to cross Lake Ontario, held by Canadian Gregg Taylor. Taylor made the swim Aug. 13-14, 2003, in just 19 hours and 23 minutes. Buehlow also hopes to best the fastest time for crossing, currently held by John Kinsella, an American who swam the distance on Aug. 16, 1978, in 13 hours, 49 minutes.

Buehlow’s route will start in Niagara-on-the-Lake and take him to Marilyn Bell Park.

Buehlow told the Star he is swimming six times a week, for one- to two-hour periods, to get ready for the lake swim. One of the toughest challenges, he thinks, will be “siting ... trying to figure out where I am and where I need to go.’’

He’ll have three pacers with him.

Buehlow will also be raising money for the registered charity Three to Be, dedicated to raising awareness of children’s neurological disorders and funds for research.

The young swimmer said he wanted to support the charity because “I have autism, which is a neurological disorder, and I kind of thought that raising money for awareness would be a good idea.’’

Buehlow started swimming with a club at age 7 and training with a coach when he was 9. He was also a member of the 2010 Team Canada Special Olympics Worlds in Athens, where he won one gold and two silver medals in swimming.

Valerie Hauch

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.